Small vegetable established to be the most shiny (8)

'small vegetable established to be the most shiny' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'small vegetable established to be the most' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'vegetable' becomes 'leek' (leek is a kind of vegetable).
'established' becomes 'est' (abbreviation).
'to be the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'most' means to remove the last letter.
'leek'+'est'+'t'='leekestt'
'leekestt' with its last letter removed is 'leekest'.
's'+'leekest'='SLEEKEST'

Can you help me to learn more?